The Great Purifier

Mem is one of the 3 Mother Letters: Awareness.

It is the thirteenth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. Its numerical value is 40.

Mem corresponds to the lower horizontal path of the Tree of Life, the path which connects Netzah to Hod.

Sepher Yetzirah says about Mem: “…make Mem king over water, bind a crown to it, and combine one with another. And with them seal earth in the Universe, the cold in the Year, and the belly in the Soul, the male with מאש and the female with משא.”

Mem is the king of water. Mem is the seal of earth in the Universe. Mem is the belly in our body. Mem is contributing to the creation of Male and Female that started in Alef.

Mem is one of the 5 letters of the Hebrew Alphabet to have 2 shapes: מ when is within a word and ם when is at the end of a word., the latter is called Mem Sofit and has a numerical value of 600.

The shape of Mem in both forms reminds us a container, a container for the water. As a matter of fact, Kabbalists call the Mem: the Spring, the Fountain. It is an Open Fountain in its standard form and a Closed Fountain in its sofit form.

The Closed Fountain is the term used to define the Inferior Waters, the instincts, the rudimentary emotions. The Open Fountain defines the Superior Waters, the perfect and sublime awareness.

Kabbalah tells us that, in order to reach the Superior Waters, we have to purify our emotions and instincts, go upstream through our chest (Alef, the breath), get ahead of the Fire of our mind (the Shin) and enjoy the Perfect Silence.

Purification of the emotions and instincts. This is the unbelievable strength of Mem: thanks to the purification you can easily find the path to go upstream towards the Superior Waters.

Purification as explained by the number 40 which is equal to the minimum number of Se’ah (סאה – measure unit) needed to prepare a ritual purifying bath (Mikveh – מקוה).

Purification that you can try everyday following the instructions given here.